HELPING YOU CUT THROUGH THE BULLSHIT.

Preview: Round 1 of Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic

Instead of recapping this week’s NXT I decided to preview the upcoming Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic. After skipping 2017 the tournament is back in a scaled down form, featuring eight teams this time instead of 16 with the winner getting a title shot against The Undisputed Era at Takeover: New Orleans.

It kicks off next week with TM61 vs. The Authors of Pain. This has to be the easiest first round match-up to pick. For the life of me I can’t remember what TM61 stands for. I’ve had to google it at least five times since they came back. AOP won it in 2016, and I think this is a squash with AOP making short work of the Aussies. Sanity vs. Tino Sabbatelli and Riddick Moss seems like another no-brainer. Sabbatelli and Moss haven’t really developed an identity yet, but with Killian Dain involved in a singles feud with Aleister Black, maybe they’ll be the tourney’s surprise storyline and get a push. Doubtful but not impossible.

I didn’t know Tyler Bate was in a tag team called Moustache Mountain until just now but I’m already a fan. The undersized lads seem like perfect material for an underdog darling storyline. I don’t know a lot about their opponents either. I feel like Oney Lorcan and Danny Burch were thrown in just to fill out the bracket and job out in the first round. The Street Profits vs. Heavy Machinery is the match I’m most looking forward to. Both teams have a bit of heat, and I could see either one advancing. My initial pick was HM, but they’ve stalled out a bit lately after being in the title hunt last year. The Street Profits have steadily picked up momentum since their debut in so I’m going with the slight upset here with SP going over.

BIO: Last year Drew Buxton spent more money on spilled cappuccino, in cafes from one side of this world to the other, than you made. His stuff has been featured in Hobart, Vice, Vol. 1 Brooklyn, Funhouse, Mayday, and Hypertext among other publications. Find his stuff at drewbuxton.com.